An early morning start to the Devils Marbles, which were not in proper light when we passed them yesterday. Theefore I decuded to add another 22km to today’s distancecand return to the place at sunrise. The skies were still covered to the east, but enough light to turn the site into better colors.
Now I am chasing the group which left hours ago.
No worries, only 70km more to go today …
Tweet ##transoceaniaCycling on the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory is quite an experience. Not only the heat and wind can make your day and cycling a challenge, but also the so-called Road Trains, some longer as 50 meters and with up to 3 trailers. Definitely not easy to drive and handle. So far most of the drivers were very respectful with us and passed us in a safe distance. Nevertheless, one must be awake all day and listen to the approaching trucks to not be too surprised, of the roaring sound that would take you out of your day dreams.
It is also very important to stay as far left as possible and don’t make unexpected moves, as there is almost no way for the drivers to correct any errors. A too fast change of directions would cause the trailers to swing out wide and bounce for a while, if not completely getting out of control and knocking you and the truck off the road.
It is 1pm, the heat is almost unbearable. I am already 150km into the 160km cycling day. Most of the riders are probably already in camp trying to find the best spot to setup a tent or booking an A/C room. No reason for me to panic and rush down the last 10km. With enough water remaining in the bottles and Camelbak I decided for another 12km detour into the bush land to visit a sacred site of the Warumungu Aboriginal people, named Kunjarra (The Pebbles). A red sand road leads me to a large area of big boulders also known as the ‘Devil’s Pebbles’.
An information board reads: “It is a women’s dreaming site, a sacred place since the beginning of our dreamtime (wirnkarra).”
I leave it up to the discretion of the reader to find out what the women may be dreaming of.
Find more photos in the following gallery
Another long cycling day ahead. Everyone is ready to get on the road, however not without a good breakfast, which is still minutes away …
Daily routine:
Breakfast at 5:45am. But first tents were broken down as earky as 3:30am!!! End of the sleep for the rest of us, as the noise of moving zips, folding poles and packing bags runs through the whole camp in the otherwise quiet night.
The sunrise in the outback is very spectacular. I’ll will a photo or two a day from our current location to this gallery, if I am lucky enough to catch is with my camera …
Today a car stopped next to me on the Stuart Highway. It was Craig a TdA2008 fellow from Australia, who was on his way home from Darwin and made it a quick reunion before he headed away in his car to find Chris, leaving me alone in the heat and headwind.
My little smiley, which accompanied me since the arrival on Sumbawa, and was the highlight of the kids and adults on every cycling day, once spotted, has a new friend. I couldn’t get an Australian visa for him, thus he had to stay behind with a foster family in Timor-Leste. All day I had to escape from young boys chasing me uphill to get the ‘ball’. At the second to last Coke Stop before Dili, there was a single boy with his father, and Smiley finally changed ownership. The young boy is now happy owner of the yellow smiling face. He did not realize, that it is a present for him until we got back on our bikes and left. Then his face changed into a big smile, competing with smiley.
Other than Sponge Bob, who exploded in the thin, hot air of Mt. Bromo, and Angry Bird, who was killed by a goat at lunch, when he accidentally left the van, Smiley survived the long, hard cycling days and even made a border crossing to Timor-Leste.
Let’s see, what Australia has for riding surprises.
Tweet ##transoceaniaEarlier in the tour I was cycling up a long climb and suddenly felt the sweat and warm breath of someone drafting me all the way up. On top of the climb the fellow rider – one of the fastest in the tour, if not the fastest, and whom I usually see only 3 times a day
1. at breakfast
2. briefly on the road when passing me and speeding away
3. at dinner
closed up, stayed next to me and said:
“You have got sexy legs, I wanted to pass you for a long time, but my eyes became so addicted to your legs, that my nerve system failed to instruct my legs to go faster”
The Indonesian part of the Trans-Oceania is almost over. 4 cycling days before our arrival in Dili / East Timor, from where we will fly out to Darwin / Northern Territory, Australia, the cycling group assembled in Kutang / Timor for an early morning, pre-breakfast group photo.
Per, Bob, Ruth, Dara, Brett, Paul, Dan, John, Stirling, Chris, Hanns, Henry, Daryl
Jacqueline, Shirley, Joachim, Gerald, Cathrine, Nellie, Annegrete, Jodi, Eric
p.s. somehow over night the banner was magically corrected 
No more unnecessary stops for the “Gold’s” while riding. TdA has established a new catering and support system for their family and staff members, to ease their cycling day and make the search for proper Coke Stops obsolete. Every day one of the TdA client cyclists is chosen by a ‘lucky draw’ to go ahead and make sure, there is always cold Coke, fruits and/or ice cream passed to them when they need it. No more wasting energy for them to scan for a stable with fridge and the proper goodies. Like for the ‘pros’ in major cycling events, the food is being passed on to them on-the-fly, so they can continue their high speed chase to sweep the other riders.
However there is a little challenge for the 2. Only one item is handed out at a time. So it is always fun to see them racing to get it first. This time Nellie outperformed her uncle Henry and she run away with the treat without sharing – ‘The Winner takes it All’.